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OF JAnCIENT AND ^JV|oD£F(N JljVI^ 



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OF 



ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES 
COMPARED, 



BY 



/ 

JOSEPH BEALS, GREENFIELD, MASS. 



>* ,,<£- 



V : ( 16*79. A 



GREENFIELD, MASS. 
Franklin Printing Office, (Fif.li> & Hall). 

1879. 



^ 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, D Y Joseph Beals, in the 
Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS OF ANCIENT AND 
MODERN TIMES COMPARED. 



Lyman Beecher says, " Take the Spiritual Phenom- 
ena out of the Bible and you wont have much left 
that is of any value excepting the lids." 

Now, we who have dared to investigate for ourselves, 
dared to look upon both sides of the theological 
question, and get all ftie light we could upon the 
subject, and also had the desire and courage to look 
into the merits of Spiritualism, when we have wit- 
nessed manifestations that were almost a counter- 
part of those recorded in the Bible we have been led 
to believe they were accomplished by the same power. 
Therefore when we read that Moses, or any of the 
old prophets or seers, were controlled and said, " Thus 
saith the Lord," or when we read that Moses or Ja- 
cob, or any of the old ancients, say they "have seen 
God face to face,' 1 or "talked with God as one man 
talketh with another," we simply do not believe it; 
we think they were mistaken. 

Probably all of you who are familiar with the Bible 
will remember that it is full of accounts of angels 
appearing to different ones, and they were nearly al- 
ways called" Gods," " Lords,'' or "Angels." But mark 
this, they were always in the form of men; and I 
have thought it might be interesting to recall and 
compare a few of them with some of the manifesta- 
tions of the present time. 



I do not propose to go through with the entire 
list, for one writer says, in speaking of dark seances, 
" That out of eleven hundred and forty-three exam- 
ples of spirit manifestations or wonder workings 
recorded in the Bible, nine hundred and fifty-four of 
them occurred in the night or in the dark." So you 
see it is possible they were in the habit of holding 
dark seances in those old times. We will commence 
with the manifestation as recorded in the 18th chap- 
ter of Genesis. Abraham was sitting " in the tent 
door in the heat of the day ; and he lifted up his 
eyes, and lo, three men stood by him. ,, It is quite 
evident he thought they were mortals like himself 
for he had water brought to wash their feet and had 
a dinner prepared for them, " and they did eat." But 
in the course of the conversation he concluded one 
of them was the Lord, for he told Abraham he had 
heard that Sodom and Gomorrah were very wicked 
places and he was going down there to find out 
about it, and if they were as bad as had been repre- 
sented to him he would destroy them. 

Well, it seems two of them went to Sodom and 
called upon Lot, who was considered the best man in 
the place. He gave them a cordial welcome, "and 
made them a feast," and thev eat again. Upon ob- 
servation and enquiry they found they had not been 
misinformed, but the inhabitants were full as bad, if 
not worse, than had been represented to them. 
Whereupon the Lord caused a very heavy rain to fall 
upon those places. But instead of a long cold wet 
rain, like the one we read about previous to this, it 
was just the reverse, a very dry and hot one. 

Here we have an account of spirits making them- 



selves visible to mortals and talking with them. Let 
us see if we cannot duplicate it. 

An intimate friend of mine, a captain in the Union 
Army during our late rebellion, has told me many- 
times that often when walking on the street he feels 
the presence of spirits, and looking up, sees them 
walking by his side and converses with them, and 
their voices sound just as natural to him as though 
they were living in the mortal. I remember very 
well the time his mother passed on from an adjoin- 
ing town. His father had been in spirit life some 
years. He told me that at the funeral he saw both 
his father and mother standing between the officiat- 
ing clergyman and the coffin, as plainly as he ever 
saw them in his life. This friend, who belongs to 
the order of Free Masons, related to me to-day the 
following incident : " Some few years ago I was very 
sick indeed. My mind, however, was perfectly clear, 
and I had come to the conclusion that I should not 
recover. While in this condition I saw a band of 
twelve spirits enter my room. The leader I fully 
recognized. He was a brother Mason who had passed 
on some fifteen years before. Each one had a sprig 
of cassia. They commenced to walk around my bed. 
Now I had never attended a Masonic funeral, but had 
heard the ceremonies described. I therefore felt sure 
this was an indication that I was to pass on. But 
instead of dropping the cassia, as is the custom at 
the funeral of a brother, each one drew it across my 
forehead, and passed out of sight. I then saw the 
form of a beautiful lady clothed in an elegant man- 
tle floating towards me, and when about three feet 
directly above my body remained stationary for a 



few moments I supposed this form would gradually 
settle down, indicative of my burial. But a voice 
said to me, you will get well, and the spirit ascended 
and was soon lost to sight. From this time I began 
gradually to recover." 

Again, in the 2ist chapter of Genesis, we read of 
the disgraceful manner in which Abraham served his 
bondwoman, Hagar, and his own son, Ishmael. He 
gave her some bread and a bottle of water, and turn- 
ing her out of house and home, sent her into the wil- 
derness to live or die, as circumstances might deter- 
mine. They wandered around until "the water was 
spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one 
of the shrubs/' " And she went and sat down a good 
way off," for she could not bear to see him die." " And 
she lifted up her voice and wept." And God heard 
the voice of the lad, and the Angel of God called to 
Hagar out of Heaven, and said unto her, what aileth 
thee, Hagar ? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice 
of the lad where he is." " Arise, lift up the lad a*nd 
hold him in thine hand " And God opened her eyes, 
and she saw a well of water, and she went and filled 
the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink." 

A lady of my acquaintance, who I believe to be a 
woman of truth and veracity, now living with her 
second husband, who is a minister, and is much op- 
posed to everything pertaining to modern Spiritual- 
ism, told me that after her first husband died she was 
in great trouble in relation to the settlement of his 
affairs, which were left in such a complicated condi- 
tion that she hardly knew what to do or which way 
to turn. She was walking back and forth on the 
piazza, one day, in great mental distress. She knew 



nothing of Spiritualism, but was earnestly desiring 
to know what to do. When she heard, as she said, 
" The voice of her husband as distinctly as she ever 
heard it," and was told just what to do. She looked 
all around; no visible person was present. She, 
however, followed the directions given, and every- 
thing came out correctly, as she was told it would. 
But afterwards, when she came to think the matter 
over, she concluded it must have been her imagina- 
tion quickened by mental anguish. 

In the 6th chapter of Exodus we read : " And God 
spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord, 
and I appeared unto Abraham and Isaac, and unto 
Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my 
name of JEHOVAH was I not known to them." 

Now we have no doubt that this Jehovah who 
talked with Moses so often and whom Moses saw, 
and without doubt thought was God, was in reality a 
spirit, who had sometime lived on earth, as we are 
now living. According to the Pentateuch, all the 
different nations and tribes had their gods, or con- 
trolling spirits, to whom they prayed. They were 
called tutelary gods, or guardian, protecting spirits, 
and Jehovah was probably the controlling spirit, or 
God, of the Israelitish nation. You will recollect he 
says, " I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abra- 
ham, of Isaac and of Jacob." He was most likely- 
one of Abraham's ancestors, and controlled Moses in 
the same manner that some spirits control mediums 
to-day. 

In the 9th chapter of 1st Samuel we read, " And 
the asses of Kish, Saul's father, were lost, and Kish 
said to Saul, his son, take now one of the servants 



8 

with thee and arise, go seek the asses." They went 
in pursuit of them, passing through the land of several 
different tribes, until they came near a city. When 
Saul having become tired or discouraged, proposed 
to the servant to go home, but the servant said, " Be- 
hold now there is in this city a man of God, and he 
is an honorable man, and all that he saith cometh 
surely to pass. Now let us go thither, peradventure 
he can show us the way that we should go." But 
Saul said he had nothing to give him. The servant 
replied: " Behold I have here the fourth part of a 
shekel of silver, that will I give to the man of God 
to tell us our way." That point being arranged, they 
started and met Samuel in the gate of the city, and 
enquired of him the way to the Seer's house, u and 
Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the Seer," 
** and as for thine asses that were lost three days ago 
set not thy mind on them ; for they are found." 

Here are three points to which I wish to call your 
attention. And first: Samuel was called a seer as 
well as a man of God. To-day we call them clair- 
voyants or mediums. Second : it is evident they 
paid their mediums in those days, as well as at the 
present time. And third : the servant said, " he is 
an honorable man; all he saith cometh surely to 
pass. We should certainly infer from this that there 
were in those days persons who were not honorable 
men, but who pretended to be mediums, seers, or 
prophets just for the pay, the " Almighty dollar," 
and I am sorry to believe, that we can in our own day, 
occasionally find one of their direct descendants. 

In the spring of 1878, Mr. Chas. E. Stannard, of 
Conn., lost a gold watch and had no trace of it or 



idea what had become of it. He consulted a Dr. 
Hunt of Fair Haven, a clairvoyant, and was told he 
would find it in the possession of a servant girl. He 
knew this girl was to take a journey in the cars that 
day. He took a sheriff with him and drove to the 
depot just in time to intercept her, as she was about 
to step into the cars, and charged her with theft. She 
confessed on the spot, and delivered up the watch. 

You all remember the story of Saul's visits to the 
woman of Endor, as recorded in the 28th chapter of 
1st of Samuel. 

We w-ere taught in our early days to look with ab- 
horrence upon her, for the Christians all call her the 
witch of Endor, but the w r ord witch is not in the 
chapter anywhere, and if any one can read that chap- 
ter candidly, without feeling that she was a good, 
true, kind-hearted woman, they can read it different 
from what I can. " You see Saul was in great trouble, 
and although he was a medium, his gifts had left 
him, and he went to this woman, and she saw and 
described Samuel so accurately that he at once rec- 
ognized him, and Samuel prophesied to him, saying, 
"and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me," 
and this prophecy was fulfilled. 

After I had been investigating the subject of Spir- 
itualism in earnest for a year or more, I went to 
New York, and having a little leisure one day, called 
upon Charles H. Foster, who has a world-wide rep- 
utation as a medium. I had never seen him, and 
knew he must be entirely ignorant of me and my af- 
fairs, and I determined to be very careful and not say 
a word that would give him the slightest clue to any 
of my spirit friends. I was shown into his room 



10 

without giving my name. He was sitting at a table 
in the centre of the room, giving tests to a gentle- 
man. He invited me to take a seat opposite, but 
against the wall of the room some twelve feet from 
him. He then went on with his tests to the 
other man, Soon he looked towards me and said, 
"Joseph! Joseph! Joseph! I hear the name of Jo- 
seph. Do you know of any one in spirit life by that 
name? Well, as I had decided to be very circum- 
spect in the matter, I said " yes sir, several." " Well," 
said Foster, "but this spirit said he was your father. 
Is that correct? I said "yes sir." "Well," said he, 
" Charlie is here, Frank is here, Dr. Mack is here. 
These last three were spirits who had come repeatedly 
to our circles that we were then holding in Green- 
field. Foster then described my father very accu- 
rately. He then prophesied to me of something that 
would transpire within a day or two, and the circum- 
stance took place exactly as he foretold, and then an 
event took place, which to me was more wonderful 
than anything recorded of the woman of Endor. He 
requested me to write the names of some of my 
spirit friends on slips of paper in such a way that he 
should not see what they were, and fold them up as 
nearly alike as I could, and mix them up on the ta- 
ble. I followed his directions. He then pointed out 
one after the other, giving the correct names, saying 
he heard the names spoken. Then pointing to the 
last one, said, "This spirit says he will write his 
initials on my arm." He bared his arm, which was 
fair and white. Very soon the initials J. B began to 
show themselves. He had not touched his arm . The 
letters became more and more distinct, until they 



II 

were a bright red color. " There, said he, those are 
the initials of your father." 

How do you know that, said I ? " Why, he stands 
right here and tells me so." They were exactly as 
my father used to write them. I enquired how it 
was done. He said " the spirits told him they wrote 
by directing a fine point of electricity upon the arm, 
and that raised the blood to the surface." This ex- 
planation seemed very reasonable to me. I have, 
also, seen the same manifestations upon the arm of 
Chas. H. Colchester. 

In the 22d chapter of i Kings we read about Ahab, 
one of the kings of Israel ; his wife's name was Jeze- 
bel ; they were a wicked couple, and it seems from 
the account that the Lord was so greatly displeased 
with them that he desired to put an end to their 
earthly existence. Now Ahab had a great desire to 
" possess Ramoth-Gilead," which was in the hands of 
the king of Syria, therefore, he made an arrangement 
with Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, to help him. 

It seems they thought it was rather a mean thing 
to do, and Jehoshaphat proposed that they enquire at 
the word of the Lord, or in other words, to take 
council of the prophets, or mediums. So Ahab gath- 
ered the prophets together, about four hundred of 
them, and they all said " Go up, for the Lord shall 
deliver it into the hand of the King." But Jehosha- 
phat asked if there were not some other prophet of 
the Lord that they might enquire of. Ahab replied, 
"there was one other man, Micaiah, the son of Imla," 
whom they might enquire of. " But " says Ahab, " I 
hate him, for he doth not prophecy good concerning 
me, but evil." 



12 



A messenger was sent for Micaiah, and he caution- 
ed him in this manner : " Behold now, the words of 
the prophets declare good unto the king with one 
mouth ; let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of 
one of them, and speak that which is good'' " And 
Micaiah said, as the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith 
unto me that will I speak." He came to the kings, 
and the king said unto him, " Micaiah, shall we go 
against Ramoth-Gilead, to battle, or shall we forbear ? 
And he answered him, go and prosper, for the Lord 
shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And the 
king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure 
thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true 
in the name of the Lord ?" " And he said, I saw all 
Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not 
a shepherd, and the Lord said, these have no master, 
let them return every man to his house in peace." 
" And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I 
not tell thee that he would prophecy no good con- 
cerning me, but evil?" "And he said, here now 
therefore the word of the Lord : I saw the Lord sit- 
ting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing 
by him on his right hand and on his left. And the 
Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go 
up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?" " And one said on 
this manner, and another said on that manner. And 
there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord, 
and said, I will persuade him." " And the Lord said 
unto him wherewith ? And he said, I will go forth, 
and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his 
prophets." And he said, thou shalt persuade //////, 
and prevail also. Go forth and do so." Now, 
therefore, behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit in 



*3 

the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord 
hath spoken evil concerning thee." But, notwith- 
standing all this, Ahab went up to battle, and was 
killed. 

Now everybody has heard of the Abe Bunter test, 
as it is called, that was given through Baxter at Lake 
Pleasant camp meeting in August, 1877. The secular 
and religious papers advertised it far and near. Abe 
Bunter's obituary was published some two years be- 
fore in the Springfield Republican, but it was pre- 
mature, for the old fellow is still alive. This, to the 
minds of the outside world, was sufficient to condemn 
everything of a spiritual nature, coming through me- 
diums of to-day, for they had found out just how 
Baxter, "the great test medium, the light of the Spir- 
itualist's camp meeting," as they called him, obtained 
his tests. It was all from obituary notices, tomb 
stones, etc., etc. What a memory the man must have 
to be sure. Baxter, Sullivan and Heath were to sing 
that day, and had selected several pieces. Among 
them was a negro melody, that is, or was sung by 
the negroes at their religious meetings in the South. 
There was where Baxter first heard and learned it. It 
was his wish to sing that last, after he had given the 
tests. But the other two desired, for some cause, to 
sing it first, and Baxter consented. This song, as 
Attica, Baxter's guide, says, attracted a company of 
negro spirits, who seemed to enjoy the song very 
much. After it was ended, one spirit said to another, 
11 Now you go and give a test." " Oh, I can't," said 
the first. "You go; I don't know what to say." 
"Why," sajd the first, "tell them about Abe Bunter." 
" Why, Abe ain't dead." " Oh, yes he is. I saw his 



*4 

death in the paper before I died." So he stepped 
forward and gave the test. I have always felt that 
the higher spirits permitted this to be done, in order 
to throw Baxter out of his school and into a field of 
greater usefulness. 

In the 21st chapter of 2d Chronicles we read about 
Jehoram, another of the wicked kings of u Gods 
chosen people," as the Israelites are called. In the 
1 2th verse we read : " And there came a writing to 
him from prophet Elijah, saying, thus saith the Lord 
God of David, thy father " And goes on to tell 
what fearfu lathings should befall him for his wicked- 
ness. According to the chronology of the Bible this 
writing came to Jehoram eight hundred and eighty- 
nine years before Christ. Now if we turn back to 
the 2d chapter of 2d Kings, nth verse, we shall read 
" And it came to pass as they still went on and talked, 
that behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and 
horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and 
Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And 
Elisha saw it, and he cried my father, my father, the 
chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. And he 
saw him no more." This was eight hundred and 
ninety-six years before Christ. So you see it was 
seven years after Elijah's translation, as it is called, 
that Jehoram received this writing from him. 

I will now mention a few instances of direct spirit 
writing that have come under my own observation. 
In the first place I will state that my brother passed 
to spirit life in the spring of 1861. In the winter of 
1858-9 he spent some two months with me. He was 
a physician and surgeon. Had traveled considerably, 
and while in California was very sick indeed, and 



*5 

given up to die. At this time he became clairvoy- 
ant, and saw distinctly some of his spirit friends. 
This, of course, set him thinking, and as soon as he 
had sufficiently recovered, began investigating spirit- 
ualism, and became convinced that those who had 
passed to the higher life could communicate with us. 

When he came to visit me I had been the superin- 
tendent of the 2d Congregational Sunday school 
nearly a year. We had many talks upon the subject, 
but I thought he was all wrong, and that his poor 
soul in the future life would be among the lost. 

In the summer of 187 1, ten years after he passed on, 
I heard that Dr. Henry Slade was to be in Spring- 
field on one Sunday, and I went down to see him. 
We sat down to a common table. He took a slate and 
placed upon it a very small bit of slate pencil, and 
placed the slate under the table-leaf, holding it with 
his fingers under the slate and his thumb top of the 
table, and told me to take hold of it in the same man- 
ner. I did so, and you may be sure the slate was 
held tight to the table-leaf. We then put our disen- 
gaged hands upon the top of the table, his resting 
upon mine, and instantly I heard writing upon the 
slate. When they were through there were three 
raps, which he said indicated the writing was fin- 
ished. He immediately let go the slate, and I re- 
moved it, and found a short communication from my 
father, with his initials. I thought it very wonder- 
ful, and wished to buy the slate and take it home 
with me, but he rubbed it out, with the remark, "we 
will get something better than that." 

After I had looked the slate all over carefully to 
see that there was no writing on it, we placed it un- 



i6 

der the table leaf again, with our hands in the same 
position as before ; when we again heard the writing. 
Upon removing the slate I found the side next the 
table leaf covered with writing, and the little crumb 
of slate pencil at the very end of the last mark that 
was made with it. This is the communication : 

" My Dear Brother Joseph : You often ask for me 
and wonder why I do not come. This is just the 
reason — I really do not understand the way of coming. 
Father is always on hand to do his share of talking, 
so I stand back for the older ones. However this 
will prove to you I am not lost, but in a happy world, 
free from care and sorrow. Good bye. 
I am your affectionate brother, 

H. H. BEALS." 

Last year (1877), Chas. E. Watkins, of whom most 
of you may have heard, came to Greenfield. I pro- 
cured two slates, washed them off clean, placed a 
small bit of pencil between them, then put screws 
through the two frames, one on each side, and screw- 
ed them tight together. This was done in my office. 
I then took them down to the American House, where 
he was stopping, and we sat down to a table, on op- 
posite sides, and held the slates between us, he hold- 
ing one end and I the other. Soon we heard writing. 
When it was through I turned the screws back and 
found three names written, my father's, my brother's, 
and Mrs. A. W. Slade, and these words, " We are all 
here." Mrs. Slade was formerly Mrs. Alcinda Wil- 
helm, and some dozen years ago lectured in Green- 
field, and I formed her acquaintance. 

A friend of mine visited Watkins, while at Lake 
Pleasant camp meeting, the same year. He handed 



*7 

her two slates, telling her to examine them careful- 
ly, to see there wag no writing on them. This, how- 
ever, was entirely useless on his part, for she is natu- 
rally of a skeptical turn of mind, and would have been 
sure on that point. A small bit of pencil was placed 
between them, and she held ' them out in one hand, 
Watkins, taking hold of her left hand, and pointing 
with the other towards the slates, but not touching 
them. Soon he said " There, they are writing, don't 
you hear it ?" She said "no," but upon bringing 
them nearer to her ear said she heard them distinctly. 
When the writing ceased, she took off the top slate, 
and the bottom one was two-thirds covered with fine 
writing, and her sister's name signed to it. In this 
communication was expressed a wish that she should 
keep the slate. She took it home with her, and look- 
ing up some old letters that were written by the sis- 
ter some twenty years before, found the writing on 
the slate almost a fac-simile of that in the old letters. 
It is almost needless to add that the lady guards that 
slate with jealous care. 

Mr. T. T. Timayenis, a modern Greek by birth, a 
teacher of the Greek language in the collegiate Insti- 
tute in Springfield, told me he " obtained from Wat- 
kins, in original characters of Romaic, the name of 
his grandfather, and three lines of Greek words, cor- 
rectly spelled, and with accents and breathings*cor- 
rectly placed." He also stated that " his grandfather's 
name was very peculiar, and almost unpronounceable 
by English lips." 

The slate was in full view all the time, and Wat- 
kins merely touched one corner of it with his finger. 

Watkins, also, gave an exhibition of his powers as 



i8 

a medium for independent writing, upon'the public 
platform, at Lake Pleasant, between two new slates, 
which I* had kept in my possession from the time they 
were purchased until I handed them to a committee 
of three, two of them skeptics, who came upon the 
platform to watch the proceedings, and detect any 
fraud, if such existed. After making a careful exam- 
ination of the slates a small bit of pencil was placed 
between them. The committee then held them by 
one end, and Watkins by the other. The two skep- 
tics who were acquainted with each other, had, pre- 
vious to going upon the platform, agreed that if there 
was anything in will power, they would, if possible, 
prevent any writing upon the slates. Therefore as 
soon as all four had taken hold of the slates they 
placed their minds upon him, with the determination 
that no writing should be done. But such a power 
was brought to bear upon the medium that he writhed 
and twisted, turned as pale as a sheet, and great drops 
of sweat started out on his forehead. Soon he man- 
aged to articulate, "There, they are writing; put 
your ears down and hear it " They did so, one after 
the other, and all heard the writing. When it was 
over he let go the slates, and fairly staggered as he 
came towards me, the strain had been so great upon 
him. I immediately gave him my seat, and for a 
moment thought he would faint away, but he soon 
rallied. He told me. next day that he had not fully 
recovered from the effect, and would never try such 
an experiment again. Upon taking off the top slate 
forty-seven words were found to have been written. 
The committee testified that they could see no possi- 
ble chance for any deception or fraud in the matter, 



and at my request they each wrote their names on the 
slate, and I still have it in my possession. The com- 
munication is as follows: 
My Dear Friends: 

As we approach the natural from our spiritual 
homes we find our old love for our friends is still 
strong within us, for father, mother, brother, sister. 
God and the angel-world bless all, is the wish of this 

control. 

Mrs. A. W. Slade. 

Names of the Committee: 

Eben Ripley, Daniel D. Wiley, F, L. Sargent. 

And I could go on and relate many more incidents 
of a like nature. I have also seen many writings 
in unknown tongues. 

Dr. J. V. Mansfield, the wonderful writing medium 
of New York, told me last August, 1878, while at the 
camp meeting, " That he had written more than two 
hundred and forty-three thousand seven hundred let- 
ters from spirits, and in fifteen different languages. 

I will now mention two instances of spirit writing 
where the hand was plainly seen : If we turn to the 
5th chapter of Daniel, we can read about a great feast 
that u Belshazzar made for a thousand of his lords, 
and drank wine before them. ,, We should think from 
reading the account it was quite a carousal, and the 
wine circulated very freely. In the 5th verse we 
read: "In the same hour came forth fingers of a 
man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick, 
upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and 
the king saw the part of the hand that wrote." It 
frightened them nearly out of their senses. " The 
king's countenance changed, his thoughts troubled 



20 

him, and his knees smote together." As none of them 
could read this writing they sent for Daniel, who 
was said to have the wisdom of the gods, to interpret 
it for them. 

I will now make a quotation from a book recently 
published in England, called Psychography, giving 
an account of a seance held with Dr. Slade, and re- 
corded by the Hon. Robert Dale Owen, formerly 
American minister at the Court of Naples. He says : 
" At half past seven on Monday evening, Feb. 9th, 
1874, I called at Dr. Slade's rooms, 413 Fourth Ave., 
New York. Found him disengaged, and had a sitting 
with him which I shall remember while I live. It 
was held in his back parlor, no one but myself pres- 
ent. Doors closed and locked, sufficient gas light 
from a chandelier suspended above the table to make 
every object in the room distinctly visible. We sat 
at a table without cover, five feet by two and a half, 
Slade at one end, and I on one side, near him ; Slade's 
hands on the table throughout the sitting. An inter- 
val of some ten or fifteen minutes, during which 
nothing occurred; Slade, nervous, restless, and seem- 
ingly disappointed. Then he laid a small slate on 
the table before me, and, after a time, went to a writ- 
ing desk, brought thence half a quire of paper, se- 
lected a sheet, and handed it to me with a request 
thatJ would examine it. I did so, carefully, under 
the gas light, and can positively affirm that not a 
word or letter was visible upon it. Thereupon he 
added, * They wish you to lay it on the slate, and to 
lay the slate on your knee.' Then, after another 
pause, ' Have you a lead pencil?' 'Yes.' ' Please 
throw it under the table.' I did so. A few minutes 



21 

afterwards I felt the grasp as of a hand on one of my 
knees, arresting my attention, for the touch was un- 
mistakably distinct. Presently there appeared, steal- 
ing over my knees and creeping slowly up the slate 
a hand holding the pencil. This hand resembled 
point for point that of a white marble female statue, 
alike in size, in color, and in form. The fingers ta- 
pered, and the whole most delicately moulded. // 
was detached and shaded off at the wrist. It commenced 
writing about the middle of the note sheet, and continued 
to write under my eyes two or three minutes, ending at the 
bottom of the page. Then it slipped gently back un- 
der the table, carrying the pencil with it. Again an 
interval, perhaps of five minutes. Then appeared a 
second hand, somewhat smaller than the first, but in 
color and symmetry closely resembling it. This hand 
moved to the top of the sheet of paper, wrote as the 
former had done, and for about the same period of 
time, then disappeared slowly in like manner. I saw 
it even more distinctly than the first, because it wrote 
outside of the shadow of the projecting table-top, and 
directly under the gas light. As we had no raps in- 
dicating the close of the sitting, we kept our places* 
talking over what had happened. After some time a 
hand, similar to that which first wrote, showed itself, 
coming out from below the end of the table furthest 
from Dr. Slade. It was detached, as the others had 
been, remained visible several minutes, then sank out 
of sight. This closed the sitting. When I came to 
examine the writing of which I had thus witnessed 
the execution, I found the first written to be in En- 
glish, a commonplace communication, with the sig- 
nature of Dr. Slade's deceased wife. The last writ- 



22 

ten, but first on the note sheet, (headed in English, 
' Law of Love/ Matt. 5th, 43d-45th,) was in Greek. 

Now my knowledge of Greek, imperfect when I 
left college, has, during more than half a century 
of disuse, so faded out that I can barely translate a 
word here and there. I referred the manuscript to 
two of the best Greek scholars in Harvard University, 
and from them I ascertained that it was what it pur- 
ported to be, (a few aspirates and accents only omit- 
ted.) The original of the three well-known verses 
thus rendered in our revised version." 

' 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. 

' 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 
and pray for them which despitefully use you and 
persecute you ; 

* 45 That ye may be the children of your Father 
which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on 
the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just 
and on the unjust.' 

Truly the ' Law of Love.' I close without com- 
ment ; merely reminding your readers, that this sit- 
ting was held in the light. That the sheet of note 
paper remained in my possession from the time I 
first received and examined it till the close of the sit- 
ting; and has never been out of my possession since. 

That, for the reality of the phenomena I had the 
evidence of two senses, that of feeling, and best and 
most convincing of all, the testimony of what the old 
poet calls the ' faithful eyes.' 

New York, Oct. 15th, 1876." 

And now we will leave the Old Testament record, 



23 

and come down to the New. And I will state here 
that I look upon Jesus as a medium, perhaps the 
most wonderful the world has ever seen. He was a 
harmonial man, born under peculiar circumstances, 
and into a home of love, and was probably as nearly 
a perfect man as ever lived. And as one of the apos- 
tles says, "was made perfect through suffering. " 
Now it seems to me that those who profess to be fol- 
lowers of Jesus should be willing to take those por- 
tions of the New Testament which they think are his 
very words, as their guide. They should take it as 
their text book, to enable them to determine who the 
true followers of Jesus are. Let us see what it says, 
"These signs shall follow them that believe; in my 
name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak 
with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents ; and 
if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them ; 
they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall re- 
cover." 

Now it is very evident that the disciples believed 
this, for we read in the 2d chapter of Acts, " And 
when the day of Pentacost was fully come, they were 
all, with one accord, in one place." " And suddenly 
there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing 
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they 
were sitting." " And there appeared unto them clo- 
ven tongues like as of fire, and sat upon each of 
them." "And they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the 
spirit gave them utterance." "And there were dwel- 
ling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every 
nation under heaven." 

" Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude 



24 

came together and were confounded, because that 
every man heard them speak in his own language.'' 
Here we have recorded three different phases of spirit 
manifestation — the rushing wind, spirit lights, and 
speaking in other tongues, or in other words, in a 
language unknown to the medium. 

On the 1 8th day of July, 1873, I made a visit to 
Cascade, N. Y., the home then of Mrs. Mary A. An- 
drews, who, I believe, was the first medium for ma- 
terialization in the new dispensation. In the evening 
I attended a circle at which nine persons were pres- 
ent beside the medium. There were three windows in 
the room, and one door only. The windows had 
wooden shutters upon the inside. These w T ere put up 
and fastened, and blankets hung over them, and also 
over the door to exclude the light. We joined hands, 
and after singing a few pieces we all felt a strong wind, 
and were all sprinkled with water, not as though it 
was thrown on us by some, person's hand, but just 
precisely as though we were out in a slight shower. 
We all saw very bright, beautiful spirit lights in dif- 
ferent parts of the room. There were four very bril- 
liant lights at the same time in the form of a crescent. 
I attended five seances. At almost every one we had 
spirit voices join in the singing, very distinctly in- 
deed. Mrs. Andrews is not a singer. 

The speaking in- new tongues, or in language un- 
known to the medium, is very common. Probably 
all who have been in circles much have heard this. 
I think the most interesting case of the kind that has 
come under my observation was when tw'o mediums 
met at my house. They were strangers to each other, 
although acquaintances of mine. They were both 



2 5 

controlled, and held quite a conversation in a lan- 
guage entirely unknown to either of them. When 
they were through, one of them was controlled by 
another spirit, and gave us the interpretation. 

In the 14th chapter of 1st Corinthians, 13th verse, 
we read, " Wherefore let him that speaketh in an un- 
known tongue pray that he may interpret." You 
should all read the 12th and 14th chapters of 1st Cor- 
inthians. Here Paul speaks concerning spiritual 
gifts, mentioning, particularly, the gifts of healing, of 
prophecy, the discerning of spirits, and speaking in 
new tongues, and urges the followers to covet 
earnestly the best gifts. These signs did follow the 
Apostles through their lives, and the followers of 
Jesus to the third, and as some writers say even to 
the sixth century. 

In the 14th chapter of John, 12th verse, Jesus says, 
*' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on 
me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater 
works than these shall he do, because I go to my 
father/' 

According to these rules where are the followers 
of Jesus to-day, who casts out devils? This means 
those who are obsessed by evil spirits. And w r e could 
find many such in our insane asylums to-day. And 
who heal the sick by the laying on of hands, or in 
other words, by magnetic treatment ? Surely there are 
none in the churches, where, according to these state- 
ments, we should expect, and ought to find them. 
But we do find many among the spiritualists, who not 
only profess to cure disease in this manner, but who 
actually do it. And we have examples of this power 
with us to-day. Persons who have been raised to 



26 

health b) r the laying on of hands, and by magnetized 
paper, after they had been given up to die by the reg- 
ular physicians. 

There are many accounts in the Bible of what are 
called miraculous healing. In the 14th chapter of 
Acts we read : 

" 8 And there sat a certain man of Lystra, impotent 
in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, 
who never had walked. 

"9 The same heard Paul speak, who, steadfastly 
beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be 
healed, 

" to Said with a loud voice, stand upright on thy 
feet. And he leaped and walked." 

In the 19th chapter we read: 

"11 And God wrought special miracles by the 
hand of Paul : 

" 12 So that from his body were brought unto the 
sick handkerchiefs, or aprons, and the diseases de- 
parted from them, and the evil spirits went out of 
them." 

I am well acquainted with a young lady, who, for 
fourteen months, was confined to her bed with what 
doctors called " spinal disease." During all this time 
she had not been able to walk a step, or even bear her 
weight upon her feet, and the last five months had 
not been able to move herself at all. Her limbs had 
been gradually drawn up, so that her knees were as 
high as her hips, and she could not straighten them. 
The mother, who was a widow, had spent all she had 
in employing the best physicians that could be ob- 
tained, but without any good results, and they pro- 
nounced the disease incurable. At this time a mag- 



27 

netic healer heard of the case, and as he was passing 
through Northfield, where she resided at that time, 
felt impressed to call and see her, and after convers- 
ing a few moments, placed his hand upon the bottom 
of her feet, and in a short time her limbs were partially 
straightened. After two or three treatments in this 
manner, at intervals of a few days, her limbs became 
straight. He then advised her to write to Dr. J. R. 
Newton, who was at that time in California, and state 
her case to him, and see if he could not help her, but 
as they had no money she delayed writing for a few 
weeks, hoping in some way to obtain some, but did 
not succeed, and finally wrote without a remittance. 
The Dr. always ready, Christ like, to perform a good 
act, immediately replied, and told her he could help 
her, and that upon reading his letter she would feel 
an impulse to get up and walk, and enjoined her to 
do so. She read the letter aloud to her mother. 

Now she ?.had made great efforts to get up and 
stand upon her feet previous to the time when she 
could not move herself in bed, and it had always made 
her worse for several days. So she said, " Now, 
mother, if f.do try and it makes me worse, shall you 
blame me?" "No." "Then I shall try." She got 
off the bed without help, but could- not stand erect. 
However, she walked a few steps, and returned to 
the bed. After lying a few moments she said, " Moth- 
er, I can do better than that." She got up, stood 
erect, and walked across the room and back to the 
bed without help. And from that day to this, now 
some three years, has been steadily improving in 
health and strength, and is at this time apparently as 
well as any one. I should state that Dr. Newton sent 
her two magnetized letters. 



28 

You all recollect the account as recorded in Luke, 
where Jesus took " Peter and John and James, and 
went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed 
the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his 
raiment was white and glistening." " And behold, 
there talked with him two men, which w r ere Moses 
and Ellas." And the three disciples saw them. Af- 
ter Jesus was put to death he appeared many times 
to his disciples, and others. 

I will mention three instances : the first is found in 
the last chapter of Luke, when he appeared to two of 
his disciples as they were on their way to Emmaus. 

" 16 But their eyes were holden that they should 
not know him." 

And he walked and talked with them. 

" 30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with 
them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and 
gave to them. 

"31 And their eyes were opened and they knew 
him ; and he vanished out of their sight." 

J Frank Baxter told me that a few years ago, Mrs. 
Nellie J. T. Brigham lectured in Chelsea, and he was 
engaged to sing. After the lecture had commenced, 
he, feeling somewhat chilly, as it was a cold night, 
went into the ante-room, where there was a register, 
to warm himself. While sitting there a door from 
the vestibule opened, and a man came in, and re- 
quested him to give a test after the lecture. This 
man told him he was a spirit, told how long he had 
been in spirit life, and wanted the test given for the 
benefit of a lady in the audience. He also described 
a pin, in the form of a lyre, which she had presented 
him. He having given her lessons upon the guitar, 



2 9 

and refused any remuneration ; then went out through 
the door. Baxter said he saw this spirit as plainly as 
he ever saw any one in the mortal, and after he left 
it seemed so real he thought it must be some one who 
desired to play a practical joke upon him. As soon 
as he had come to this conclusion the door opened 
again, and in came the spirit, and said, " You think I 
am trying to deceive you, will you step to the door 
and lock it." Baxter said he began to be a little 
frightened, he went to the door, keeping his eyes 
continually upon this form, and took hold of the 
knob, ready to open the door and pass out if occasion 
required, and while he was intently watching it the 
spirit vanished out of sight, soon it gradually reform- 
ed, and then asked " Are you now satisfied that I am 
a spirit ?" Baxter said he was ; whereupon the spirit 
vanished again. After the lecture he went upon the 
platform and gave the test, giving name, occupation, 
date of death, age, and place of burial, described the 
pin ; also, giving other particulars, and then pointed 
in the direction of the person for whom the test was 
intended. It was acknowledged to be correct in 
every particular. 

Again, we read in the Gospel according to John, 
20th chapter, 19th verse, "Then the same day at eve- 
ning, being the first day of the week, when the doors 
were shut where the disciples were assembled, for 
fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, 
and said unto them, Peace be unto you." 

" 20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto 
them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples 
glad when they saw the Lord.*' 

"24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didy- 
mus, was not with them when Jesus came." 



3 o 

" 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, we 
have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, except 
I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put 
my fingers into the print of the nails, and thrust my 
hand into his side I will not believe." 

" 26 And after eight days again his disciples were 
within, and Thomas with them : then came Jesus, the 
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 
Peace be unto you." 

" 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy fin- 
ger, and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy hand, 
and thrust // into my side : and be not faithless but 
believing." 

The old saying that " seeing is believing," was ex- 
emplified in this case, for Thomas was immediately 
convinced that he had seen Jesus. Now if there is 
any reliance to be placed upon this record, and I have 
great confidence in it, here is proofof materialization. 
There are several points here to which I wish to call 
your attention. In the first place, Jesus, after walk- 
ing and talking with the two disciples, sat down to 
the table with them, and, to their utter astonishment, 
vanished out of sight, or in other words, de-material- 
ized. In the second place, it distinctly states that it 
was in the evenings and " the doors were shut where the 
disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews> and 
Jesus came and stood in their midst." 

Now here are the exact conditions that are observed 
in the seances, or circles, that are held to-day. The 
doors are shut and fastened upon the inside to pre- 
vent intrusion, for others coming in or going out af- 
ter the circle is formed makes a disturbance, breaks 
conditions. But some may say there is nothing said 



3* 

about the door being fastened. Very true, but would 
it not be ridiculous to say the door was simply shut, 
without fastening, if they were really afraid of a 
disturbance from the Jews, or any one else? Most 
assuredly it would. Here, then, is a clear case of ma- 
terialization, and we have abundant evidence of such 
manifestations taking place all around us to-day. I 
have been told by dozens of my friends that they have 
seen the materialized forms of their spirit friends, 
whom they fully recognized and talked with, and 
then have seen them vanish, or de-materialize, before 
their eyes. I will mention only one case. A friend 
of mine, in whom I have great confidence, told me 
that in 1874 he had a sitting with Dr. Henry Slade. 
He examined the room carefully, then locked the 
door and put the key in his pocket, no one there but 
himself and Dr. Slade. They hung a piece of black 
cloth across one part of the room, sat down a few 
feet in front of it, he taking hold of both of Dr. Slade's 
hands. Soon his attention was called to a spirit light 
which moved around the room, and then passed be- 
hind this cloth. There was in this cloth a hole cut 
on three sides, hanging from the top. Soon this was 
rolled up, and the face of his father appeared. Soon 
the curtain dropped, and his father stepped out in 
front of it, and conversed with him a while, then van- 
ished out of sight. Did not go behind the curtain, 
but de-materialized in full view. I am entirely sat- 
isfied of the fact that hands are materialized, for I 
have seen and felt them under such test conditions 
as to entirely preclude the idea of fraud. 

For instance, at a circle I attended in August, 1875, 
I strapped the hands of the medium together with two 



32 

long- strips of sticking plaster. The doors and win- 
dows were then shut and fastened under my super- 
vision. There were none but adults in the room. 
We then sat down in a circle, the chairs touching 
each other all the way round, the medium in the centre. 
The entire circle joined hands. Soon what appeared 
to be a child's hand touched mine two or three times. 
I made the request that the hand be placed in mine, 
and allowed to remain there a moment, at the same 
time saying I would not attempt to grasp it. Soon 
it was laid in my hand, and after a moment I closed 
my hand carefully, just to feel the size of it, instantly 
opening it again. This I did two or three times, un- 
til I was thoroughly satisfied it was a child's hand. 
It was then moved along through my hand, I contin- 
ually feeling of it all the way to the elbow. It was a 
soft, smooth, plump child's hand and arm. I should 
say it would belong to a child of about eight or ten 
years of age. Then again, I have seen hands under 
such test conditions in other circles and with other 
mediums, that there was no possible chance for de- 
ception. 

There are, however, a great many doubting Thom- 
ases in the world. I am one of them. These things 
must be witnessed before one can be satisfied of their 
reality. No one can fully accept them as facts on 
the testimony of others. 

I have also been in circles for form materializations, 
and have seen quite a number of them that purported 
to be materialized for the occasion ; and have seen 
different parties go up and shake hands with them, and 
declare that they recognized them as their departed 
friends. These persons seemed to be, as the saying 



I 



33 

is, perfectly clear headed. They were intelligent, 
active business men and women. The evidence of 
any two of them would be sufficient in any court of 
justice to hang a man. At the same time I must say 
I have never seen what purported to be a full form 
materialization that I was fully satisfied was genuine, 
still I can see no reason why, if a hand and arm can 
be materialized, a full form may not be. 

Now, as I have said before, I believe Jesus was a 
medium, and was controlled by Moses and Elias, by 
John the Baptist, and others. In proof of this I will 
quote from the 16th chapter, 13th verse of Matthew. 

Jesus asked his disciples " Whom do men say that 
I the Son of man am ? And they said, Some say thai 
thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias: and others, 
Jeremias, or one of the prophets." 

Herod, who had caused him to be put to death but 
a short time previous to this, was also of the opinion 
that it was John who controlled Jesus at times. He 
was a man who was well known in that vicinity, and 
when he controlled Jesus the people knew from some 
peculiarity of speech or manner, that it was John the 
Baptist, just the same as we, after we become ac- 
quainted with a medium and their controlling influ- 
ences or guides, know directly which one it is that 
is speaking through them. 

In the 8th chapter of Acts we find an account of 
the conversion and baptism of the eunuch who had 
charge of all the treasures of Candace, queen of Ethi- 
opia, the 38th and 39th verses are as follows : "And 
when they were come up out of the water the Spirit 
of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw 
him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. 
But Philip was found at Azotus." 



34 

This was some thirty miles from there. 

We haye accounts of mediums being lifted up by 
spirit power at the present time. The father of the 
Davenport Brothers, as they are called, told me that 
his son Ira was lifted by spirit power and carried 
about one mile and a half, and left standing in the 
snow on the banks of the Niagara river. There were 
no tracks of either his own or other's feet, and the 
spirits asserted that he was carried through the air 
just as was Philip in the olden time. We have ac- 
counts of the same thing being done with Mrs. Gup- 
py, a medium in England, she was said to have been 
carried some two miles. This was testified to by 
some dozen respectable men and women. This Mrs. 
Guppy was the wife of a very rich man, and not a 
public medium ; hence there could have been no 
occasion for any deception on their part on account 
of gaining notoriety for the purpose of money mak- 
ing, 

A lady of my acquaintance, in whom I have great 
confidence, told me, that some fifteen years ago she 
was a member of a circle in Plymouth, Mass., Mr. J. 
Frank Baxter was one of the circle, they were held 
in a small hall, but it was quite high ; they were for 
development, and were held generally in the dark. 
They sat around a large table and joined hands. One 
evening Baxter felt that he was being lifted up. It 
frightened him a little, and he begged of those that 
were holding his hands not to let go of them, but 
after a while they did, and he was floated to the 
ceiling. The circle could hardly believe that, so the 
next night he was requested to take a pencil and 
mark on the ceiling. He did so, and when the room 



35 

was lighted they all saw the marks. He was lifted 
in this manner eighteen times, and floated a distance 
of about twenty feet each time, the last three or 
four times in the light, so all could see it. The 
ceiling had been festooned with cut papers in differ- 
ent colors. One of the circle suggested that if the 
spirits would carry him up over those cut papers and 
then bring him down upon the table with the papers 
under him, they would be convinced their eyes did 
not deceive them. He was then carried up over the 
papers and brought down upon the table, tearing the 
papers from the ceiling, and they were found under 
him upon the table. 

In a letter I have recently received from Mr Bax- 
ter, dated Troy, New York, Dec. 9th, 1878, he says, 
" speaking of my being raised, last Sunday, before a 
large audience, a gentleman arose and stated he was 
a member of the very circle, witnessed it, and proved 
his position by corroborative testimony. Who he was 
I knew not. Thought it strange, for surely I ought 
to know the members of that circle. He said, " I am 
well known here in Troy, and no man will doubt my 
word.'* After the lecture he sought me, and I saw at 
once it was Mr. Bosworth, once of Plymouth, Mass., 
now of Troy, New York. He had grown gray, and 
his beard was full and long, and that, for the time, 
disguised him to me." There are eight or ten other 
persons living who would be equally willing to tes- 
tify to this fact. 

In the 1 2th chapter of Acts we read about the ar- 
rest and imprisonment of Peter, and his release from 
prison by an angel. I will make a quotation : 



" 5 Peter, therefore, was kept in prison ; but prayer 
was made by the church unto God for him. 

" 6 And when Herod would have brought him 
forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two 
soldiers, bound with two chains; and the keepers 
before the door kept the prison. 

"7 And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon 
him-i and a light shined in the prison ; and he smote 
Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, arise up 
quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 

" 8 And the angel said unto him, gird thyself, and 
bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith 
unto him, cast thy garment about thee, and follow 
me. 

"9 And he went out, and followed him ; and wist 
not that it was true which was done by the angel ; 
but thought he saw a vision. 

" io When they were past the first and the second 
ward, they carne unto the iron gate that leadeth unto 
the city, which opened to them of his own accord ; 
and they went out, and passed on through one street ; 
and forthwith the angel departed from him." 

A case very similar to this occurred in Oswego, 
N. Y., in 1859. Ira and William Davenport, and 
Luke P. Rand, their agent, were arrested arid thrown 
into jail, and for the same reason that Peter was im- 
prisoned, for promulgating a new religious doctrine. 
The first conflicted with the dogmas of the Jewish 
church of eighteen hundred years ago, and. the last 
with those of the Orthodox church of to-day. Hence 
they must in some way be silenced. Mr. Rand says, 
" We were informed by the spirits that our prison 
doors would be opened before our time expired ; and 



37 

on the evening previous to its expiration a voice 
spoke in the room, and said that I was to go out that 
night. I was told to put on my coat and hat, and be 
ready. I did so, not even then supposing we should 
be released until the jailor and his family had retired, 
and all might be still without, but I was disappointed. 
Immediately, not probably twenty minutes from the 
time we were locked up, the door was thrown open, 
and the voice again spoke, and said, now go quickly. 
Take with you the rope, (for a rope had been in our 
room, which had been used for another purpose in 
our former room.) Go to yonder garret window and 
let thyself down, and flee from this place. We will 
take care of the boys. There are many angels pres- 
ent, though but one speaks. I hastily passed on, and 
strictly obeyed the angel. The boys came out into 
the hall, took up the lock which lay upon the floor, 
and for the first time examined it, and spoke of its 
being warm. The angel told them, as they subse- 
quently told me, to go into the room again, and the 
door was closed and locked by the angel ; and they 
were to remain there for the night." As the spirits 
had, by Rand's release, shown their power to open 
the prison, but as whoever left it would be liable to 
be returned for breaking jail, the boys were directed 
to remain where they were until the next day, when 
their term of imprisonment expired. I will simply 
add the affidavits of the Davenports and Rand : 

u Be it known to all people that in the seventh 
month, A. D., 1859, we, the undersigned, were im- 
prisoned in the common jail in the city of Oswego, 
N. Y., on account of propogating our religious prin- 
ciples, through oral and physical representations, and 



38 

that after twenty-nine days of our confinement, at 
evening, when we were all in our prison-room to- 
gether, as we had been locked in by the jailor, we 
having truly answered to his call, a voice spoke and 
said, " Randy you are to go out of this place this night. 
Put on your coat and hat and be ready. Immediately the 
door was thrown open, and the voice again spoke, 
and said, now walk quickly out, and on to the attic 
window yonder y and let thyself doivn by a ropey and flee from 
this plaee, we will take care of the boys. There are many 
angels presenty though but one speaks. The angelic com- 
mand was strictly obeyed, that this, and all this, did 
absolutely occur in our presence, we do most sol- 
emnly affirm before God and man. 

Ira Erastus Davenport. 
Luke P. Rand. 

Subscribed and sworn before me, this first day of 
August, 1859. (Signed,) 

James Barnes, Justice of the Peace. 

Subscribed and sworn before me by William Da- 
venport, this fifth day of August, 1859. 

William H. H. Davenport. 
"H. B. Burt, Justice of the Peace." 

In the 27th chapter of Acts we read of the ship- 
wreck of the vessel on which Paul was being taken 
to Rome. He had been arrested for the same reason 
that Jesus and Peter and the Davenports were, and 
at his trial appealed unto Caesar; therefore was sent 
to Rome. On the voyage they encountered a fearful 
tempest. Paul says : 

" 20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days 
appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope 
that we should be saved was then taken away. 



39 

" 21 But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in 
the midst of them, and said, sirs, ye should have 
harkened unto me and not loosed from Crete, and to 
have gained this harm and loss. 

" 22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer; 
for there shall be no loss of any mans life among you, 
but of the ship. 

" 23 For there stood by me this night the angel of 
of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, 

" 24 Saying, fear not, Paul ; thou must be brought 
before Caesar ; and, lo, God hath given thee all them 
that sail with thee. 

Paul was a medium. He says, the angel of God 
stood by him. In those days they called all spirits 
angels. Only those who can see them or hear their 
voices know how often we are helped by spirits. 

Capt. O. B. Green, now sailing the schooner Angus 
Smith, on the western lakes, is also a medium. In 
any great storm, or in any emergency, he is controlled 
by a spirit, and always takes his vessel into port in 
safety, while others are obliged to wait outside the 
harbor for a pilot, or until the storm abates. He is 
always awakened at night by spirits, if there is any 
occasion for it. He frequently tells the owners, or 
those for whom he carries freight, when he leaves 
port, just what time he shall reach his destination, 
and when he has made this statement has never been 
known to fail of its accomplishment in the specified 
time, and telegraphing back to the owners^ This last 
fall, 1878, while quite a number of vessels were in the 
harbor at Buffalo, he took his ship out in a tornado, 
and made a safe and very quick voyage to Milwaukee, 
when no other vessel, or tug even, dared to venture 
out. 



40 

Thus I have recounted a very few of the many man- 
ifestations of spirit presence and power recorded in 
the Bible, and have duplicated them from the mani- 
festations of the present day. It seems marvelously 
strange to me how any one can so implicitly believe 
in the spirit manifestations of from two to four thou- 
sand years ago, and so utterly ignore the same class 
of facts that are transpiring all around us to-day. 

Finding so many of these accounts recorded there, 
I can unhesitatingly say that I believe the Bible to 
be the best text book of ancient spiritualism that I 
am acquainted with, and in this way do I answer in 
part, the question so often asked us, " Do you, as 
Spiritualists, discard the Bible." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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